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Country labor markets

Articles in this subject area summarize the current state of specific labor markets. They cover the labor market issues common to all countries but also highlight important developments specific to each country context.

Low unemployment and high employment, but also
low, volatile pay and high inequality characterize the Russian labor
market

Being the largest economy in the Eurasian
region, Russia's labor market affects economic performance and well-being in
several former Soviet countries. Over the period 2000–2017, the Russian
labor market survived several deep crises and underwent substantial
structural changes. Major shocks were absorbed largely via wage adjustments,
while aggregate employment and unemployment showed little sensitivity.
Workers have paid the price for this rather stable employment situation in
the form of volatile wages and a high risk of low pay.

Recovery from the Great Recession is
complete, but there are difficult unemployment and wage problems

As the largest economy in the world, the US
labor market is crucial to the economic well-being of citizens worldwide as
well, of course, that of its own citizens. Since 2000 the US labor market
has undergone substantial changes, both reflecting the Great Recession, but
also resulting from some striking trends. Most interesting have been a
remarkable drop in the labor force participation rate, reversing a nearly
50-year trend; the full recovery of unemployment from the depths of the
Great Recession; and the little-known continuing growth in post-inflation
average earnings.

Sustained economic growth led to reduced
unemployment and real earnings growth, but prosperity has not been equally
shared

Since 1991, the Australian economy has
experienced sustained economic growth. Aided by the commodities boom and
strong public finances, the Australian economy negotiated the global
financial crisis without falling into recession. Over this period there were
important structural changes, with increasing labor force participation
among the elderly and the continuing convergence of employment and
unemployment patterns for men and women. However, some recent negative
trends include a rise in unemployment, especially long-term unemployment, a
deteriorating youth labor market, and a stagnant gender earnings gap.

The Swedish economy continues to have high
employment and rapidly rising real wages

The economic crisis in the early 1990s brought
about a dramatic increase in unemployment and a similar decrease in labor
force participation. Unemployment declined afterwards, but stabilized at
around 6–7%—more than twice as high as before the crisis. Today, the
unemployment rate is lower than the EU average, though Sweden no longer
stands out in this respect. The 2008 financial crisis had small effects on
the Swedish labor market. Employment in industry declined sharply and then
remained stagnant, but employment in the service sectors has continued to
grow steadily.

From 2001 to 2015, Brazil experienced a profound
reduction in income inequality. The commodities boom and some institutional
changes in the early 2000s kick-started the Brazilian labor market,
increasing the quantity of formal jobs and earnings, especially for the
poorest workers. Significant increases in average schooling and the real
minimum wage helped reduce ethnic, gender, and regional earnings gaps,
though all remain rather high. However, since 2014 a major fiscal crisis has
negatively affected GDP and the labor market, seriously threatening these
achievements.

The world’s second largest economy has boomed,
but a rapidly aging labor force presents substantial challenges

China experienced significant economic progress
over the past few decades with an annual average GDP growth of approximately
10%. Population expansion has certainly been a contributing factor, but that
is now changing as China rapidly ages. Rural migrants are set to play a key
role in compensating for future labor shortages, but inequality is a major
issue. Evidence shows that rural migrants have low-paying and undesirable
jobs in urban labor markets, which points to inefficient labor allocation
and discrimination that may continue to impede rural–urban migration.

Norway has a high labor force participation rate
and a very low unemployment rate. Part of the reason for this fortunate
situation is so-called “tripartism”: a broad agreement among unions,
employers, and government to maintain a high level of coordination in wage
bargaining. This has led to downward real wage flexibility, which has
lessened the effects of negative shocks to the economy. Reduced net
immigration, especially from neighboring countries, has also mitigated the
negative effects of the recent drop in oil prices. A potential drawback of
this tripartism is, however, the difficulty of reducing employee absences
and disability.

A strong resource boom that benefited Canada’s
economy and labor market was followed by a painful adjustment

During the 2000–2016 period, Canada’s economy
and labor market performed well. An important element in this success was
the strong resource boom that lasted from the late 1990s to 2014. Since that
time the economy and labor market have been undergoing a painful adjustment,
a process that is now essentially complete. A good rule of thumb when
examining many aspects of the labor market, such as the extent of
unionization and the level of the minimum wage relative to the median wage,
is that Canada is situated roughly halfway between the US and Europe.

Employment has grown steadily and the gender gap
and skill premiums have fallen

New Zealand is a small open economy, with large
international labor flows and skilled immigrants. Since 2000, employment
growth has kept pace with strong migration-related population growth. While
overall employment rates have remained relatively stable, they have
increased substantially for older workers. In contrast, younger workers as
well as the Maori and Pasifika ethnic groups experienced a sharp decline in
employment rates and a rise in unemployment around the time of the global
financial crisis. Wage gains have been modest and there has been a
compression of earnings differentials by gender as well as by skill.